Building block and wall construction



Feb 7, 1933. w; DEMAREST 1,896,770

I BUILDING BLOCK AND WALL CONSTRUCTION I Filed Nov. 23, 1928 INVENTOR I I 77271121772 iflalizalrwz M ATTOR EY Patented Feb. 7, 1933 UNITED STATES;

P TENTfoFFm f WILLIAINL G. DEMARns'r, or PLAINFIELD, NEW JERSEY I BUILDING BLOCK AND WALL consrnucrron Application filed November 23, 1928'. Serial No. 321,357. i

terior of the building against the action of frost, fire, water, wind, etc. a In carrying out this essential object and purpose of my present invention, I provide a block having one bearing side which includes a sect-ion forming a joint with the header brick and a laterally and vertically offset section having a depth substantially equal to one-half the depth of a brick course. The other bearing side of the block also has spaced sections, but the bearing surfaces thereof are disposed in the same horizontal plane, said surfaces being separated by an intervening continuous longitudinal channel. When the block or blocks of this construction are laid up to form the backing or lining wall, the said channels of the adjacent block opposed to the stretcher courses of brick are in mating relation and form a continuous horizontally extending dead air space interrupting the mortar joint between the spaced bearing surfaces at the opposed sides of said blocks. The opposite laterally and vertically offset bearing sections of adjacent blocks are opposed to the inner ends ofthe header bricks in one course and likewise form longitudinally extending dead air spaces interrupting the mortar joint between the offset bearing sections of the block and the bearing 7 sections at the same sides of the blocks which are opposed tothe header brick and bonded therewith. In this manner, it will beevident; that the transmission of moisture through the wall structure to the inner side thereofis effectually precluded, since there are no continuous mortar joints through which moisture might be transmitted extendingbetween, the outer and inner wall. r I

It is also an object of the invention to pro vide a wall structure composed in partof my novel form of blocks which may beerect- '1 ed quickly and with a minimum of manual labor and which will also provide a building wall which will satisfactorily meet municipal building'codes as to resistance to stress or strains. I

It is another object of my invention to provide a building block in which the sides defining the dead air spaces when in combination with similarly made blocks to form a wall structure,'will have grooves or nicks 5'' extending the length of the block whereby to prevent the creeping of moisture or water from the mortar on one part of the joined blocks to the mortar bond disposed on the other side of the joined blocks.

' It is also an additional object of the invention to provide a building block having the above noted advantages when embodied in a Wall structure andwhich is so formed that the V I blocks can be compactly'stacked so that they will not be liable to excessive damage or-injury in shipment.

WVith the above and other objects in view, the invention consists in the improved building block and wall construction as will be hereinafter more fully described, illustrated in V the accompanying drawing and subse-' quently incorporated in the subjoined claim.

In the drawing, wherein I have illustrated one simple and practical embodiment of the invention, and in which similar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several views,

Figure 1 is a fragmentary vertical section of a building wall showing one embodiment with a common six course brick wall generally referredjto as an English bond, and

Figure 2 is a detail perspective view ofone of the blocks. For purposes of illustration, I have shown the outer brick'wallas composed of the vertically spaced courses of header brickb and a. plurality of intervening courses of stretcher brick 6. These brick are of standard dimenfaces of the w of my new block as employed in connection nicks or grooves provided adjacent the ends of the webs of the block are useful as water or moisture traps. V This feature is particularly notable in the upper webs of the blocks when such blocks are 7 joined together, as shownin Fig. 1, to form the dead air spaces 18 and 19. For example, as the moisture creeps from the mortar 7 along the straight faced portion 11 of the top block-9 it reaches the nick 11 whereupon it drops to the bottom of the air space. If some of the moisture does creep along the web 15 to the next nick or groove 16 most of it will have dropped to the bottom of the air space. In this manner moisture is prevented from reach ing the mortar 17 and thence into the roomy It is also apparent that certain variations may be Y defined by the walls 9 of the blocks.

resorted to in the structural form of the detail parts of the block, and it is accordingly to be understood that in practice the privilege is reserved of resorting to all such legitimate changes therein as may be fairly incorporated within the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

I claim:

In a hollow building block having two sections joined together to form a unitary structural piece, both sections having aligned bearing surfaces at one end and transposed bearing surfaces at'the other end, one bearing surface being raised above the other substantially half the depth of a header brick, the improvement which consists in two curvate walls in one section disposed between the end bearing surfaces of both sections,

said curvate walls having nicks at the ends thereof, and straight faced portions interposed between the walls and the adjacent bearing surfaces, said curvate walls forming, when a plurality of blocks are superposed upon each other, symmetrical dead air spaces 7 of identical configuration at each end of the blocks with the binding mortar of the bearing surfaces ofsmaller layer section forming a median line 1n the plane of symmetry of sald dead a1r spaces. r

In testimony thatI claim the foregoing as my invention, I have signed my name hereto.

' WILLIAMG. DEMARESTL. 

